The Next Big Question Facing Cities: Will Millennials Stay?

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Atlantic Cities discusses the impact of the millennials on urban living and whether or not they'll stay. I increasingly notice that age group as the new resident cohort as I head to work in the morning from Thornton Park and South Eola. I will hazard a guess and say that a plurality of the dog walkers and folks shopping at Publix in the Paramount, not to mention the runners and folks visiting the bars who were here all along, fall in this category between 20-34. That suggests to me they have moved in, and I'm anxious to see if they choose to stay or find the need to head to the 'burbs for more space and/or decisions about schools and such as they settle down. It's a great time to be downtown!

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I say they stay. To me, this is a return to the historical context of city living, what was done for hundreds of years before the American suburb. They've seen the suburb, they don't like it, they aren't going back.

A major roadblock to bringing more people downtown -- affordable housing. Orlando is no stranger to this. So many people would jump on the opportunity to live downtown but are priced out of it. Imagine what could really "be" if we allowed all those eager would-be city dwellers stuck in the suburbs to live out their urban aspirations.

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My boss was really into the whole "millenial", Digital Native idea. I have to say, dealign with a good variety of people under the age of 30: They don't exist. Ther eis no such thing as one age group any more. Some people are big city people. Some people are suburb people. Some want the wilderness. Some get computers. Some can't figure out how to work a mouse. That's just what life is - no fixing it, no changing it. No one solution will work for everyone.

The moral: Don't aim for an age group, aim for a type or person. Better yet, don't aim at all. Let it develop into what the local population want it to be.